RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Scurry County >> Ira >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Ira, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ira and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Ira:
    • 32.582056, -101.002063
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Ira
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Scurry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Scurry County
    • Since Ira is near Mitchell County and also Howard County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mitchell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Howard County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Ira

Communities Also Named Ira ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Ira.

There is one other community in Texas that is also named Ira.

Beyond Texas, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Texas ...
    • Red River County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Ira [Red River County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Jasper County
      • This Ira is located in Jasper County and lies 765 miles [1,231.1 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Ira that is located in Scurry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Ira.
    • Missouri
      • Laclede County
      • This Ira is located in Laclede County and lies 586 miles [943.1 km]<2> to the northeast of the Ira that is located in Scurry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Laclede County community of Ira.
    • Nebraska
      • Boone County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nebraska community of Ira [Boone County].
    • New York
      • Cayuga County
      • This Ira is located in Cayuga County and lies 1,512 miles [2,433.3 km]<2> to the northeast of the Ira that is located in Scurry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cayuga County community of Ira.
    • North Carolina
      • Wilkes County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Ira [Wilkes County].
    • Ohio
      • Summit County
      • This Ira is located in Summit County and lies 1,221 miles [1,965 km]<2> to the northeast of the Ira that is located in Scurry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Summit County community of Ira.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Clearfield County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Ira [Clearfield County].
    • Vermont
      • Rutland County
      • This Ira is located in Rutland County and lies 1,685 miles [2,711.7 km]<2> to the northeast of the Ira that is located in Scurry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rutland County community of Ira.
    • Virginia
      • Buchanan County
      • This Ira is located in Buchanan County and lies 1,118 miles [1,799.2 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Ira that is located in Scurry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Buchanan County community of Ira.
    • West Virginia
      • Clay County
      • This Ira is located in Clay County and lies 1,195 miles [1,923.2 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Ira that is located in Scurry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Ira.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ira ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Brand
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Brand is located in Scurry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brand
  • Champion
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Champion is located in Nolan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Champion
  • China Grove
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • China Grove is located in Scurry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for China Grove
  • Fullerville
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Fullerville is located in Scurry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fullerville
  • Hobbs
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Hobbs is located in Fisher County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobbs
  • Knapp
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Knapp is located in Scurry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knapp
  • Luther
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Luther is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luther
  • Sand Springs
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Sand Springs is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Springs
  • Spade
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Spade is located in Mitchell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spade
  • Union
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Union is located in Scurry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union

How Far From Ira to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Ira to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Ira and extending to:

  • Snyder, which is the Seat of Scurry County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Ira to Snyder, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 249 miles [400.7 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,407 miles [2,264.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 55 days and walking would take 80 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,147 miles [11,502 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,892 miles [12,700.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,778 miles [9,298.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Ira could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ira) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Ira to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ira. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.5821, Longitude: -101.0021       In this case, the coordinates for Ira have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 322.79 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 319.824 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.61 degrees.